I bought two new tires at Sears yesterday - they said they did an alignment - but when the car goes over 40 mph, the steering wheel starts vibrating. It is my opinion that the alignment was done incorrectly. I called them and they said that the back tires (previously on the front) were the cause of the shaking. I have no idea what to do from here. How would back tires contribute to the shaking of a front wheel drive car. Any suggestions would be helpful.

thanx

cobyco

I just cam across this tidbit from Volvo, I thought it very interesting:

TIRE REPLACEMENT:
When tire replacement is necessary, Volvo strongly recommends replacing all four tires at the same time with identical tires as explained above. Failure to do so can result in circumference differences that may damage the transmission and all wheel drive
system. If only one or two tires are replaced, the new tire(s) must be identical to the tires with which the car was built, and must be mounted on the FRONT AXLE ONLY! Failure to do this may damage the transmission and all wheel drive system.
TIRE ROTATION:
The front tires of the all wheel drive vehicle are the primary drive tires. The primary drive tires will wear faster than the rear wheels. The tires with the least wear and largest circumference must always be on the front. Therefore, Volvo recommends rotating the tires every 7,500 miles (12,000 km). Tires should be rotated front-to-back/back-to-front
only. Tires must maintain the same direction of rotation throughout their lifetime, and should never be rotated from one side of the vehicle to the other.
CAUTION:
Failure to rotate tires at recommended intervals will cause uneven tire wear and may damage the transmission and all wheel drive system. However, if the front tires are newer (have less wear) than the rear tires, then tires should not be rotated until the front tires wear to the same circumference as the rear tires.

Klaus

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Two good Volvos, a 220 and a V70R

Volvo Tech-Net Notes No. 43-13, Dated 11/14/00, Subject: AWD Tire Replacement reads in part:" If only one or two tires are replaced, the new tire(s) must be identical to the tires with which the car was built and must be mounted on the FRONT AXLE ONLY! Failure do do this may damage the transmission and all wheel drive system."







1990 744 GLE, 1998 V70XC

Sears is correct. They put the new tires on the rear and the old rear tires/wheels on the front. One of the front wheels is out of balance. This happens a lot, people loose the wheel weights when hitting the curb with the rear wheel.

I am very surprised that you did not replace all 4 tires. Depending on the year, you could be cooking the bevel gear (transfer case) fluid because of the difference in the tire size.

Tires on AWD cars should be rotated every time you change the oil. It is a very simple procedure.

Klaus
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Two good Volvos, a 220 and a V70R

Not so - they put the new tires on the front

Go back to Sears and tell them to re-balance the new tires, they blew it.

"I" would have put the new tires on the rear of your car.

Klaus
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Two good Volvos, a 220 and a V70R

It seems from your other response that you've figured this out now, but you are supposed to put the best tires on the rear of the car in every situation EXCEPT the front-axle-biased VC-based AWD system like in the early AWD Volvos.

This has been discussed here before too :
http://www.brickboard.com/AWD/volvo/1426231/XC50/XC60/XC70/XC90/stagger_worn_tires.html


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1998 V70 AWD->FWD Turbo 200k+

I am a little slow and dense at times. I am glad you are on this board to correct me.

Klaus
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Two good Volvos, a 220 and a V70R

we are all a little dense and slow by times and I hope the 'correcting' favour will go both ways!

PS love the profile photo! That's /your/ 220?
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1998 V70 AWD->FWD Turbo 200k+

No AC problems. No PS problems. No PB problems. No computers. 4 fuses. And it will do 80mph without complaining at all.

Klaus
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Two good Volvos, a 220 and a V70R